Harvie — Local services in Pittsburgh

We used this service for about a month and not one order went as expected.

The first order was missing an item, I was notified and they did substitute for a different item, not a problem at all.

The next week was also missing an item, they notified me the day of, did not have a substitution, and gave me a credit on my account for the missing item. I would have preferred to be refunded to my card, but not a huge deal.

The next week the box was missing an item, they did not notify me, I had to reach out to them and it took them 3 days to respond and again only offered a credit to my account. Now it is starting to get annoying as the items missing were two loafs of bread for the cold cuts I ordered so the guest I had visiting could have sandwiches for lunch while I was working, and since I wasn’t notified I wasn’t getting the bread I didn’t have the opportunity to pick any up on my way home from work.

The next week I ordered rotisserie chickens to have for dinner the night it was supposed to be delivered for an easy meal for the guest I still had visiting. 2 hours after the expected delivery time, so 6pm, I still did not have my delivery. I ended up having to order something in so my kids and guest didn’t go hungry. The order did end up showing up closer to 7 but I had no way to contact anyone that night to know if the order was going to show up or not and when someone did get back to me the next day the response was simply that they did show the order delivered.

I decided at that time to cancel my membership as the service was unreliable and expensive. A lot of the food wasn’t even local, berries were from Driscoll in California just like any other grocery store in the area. I did place an order a couple weeks earlier though for a pre order beef package so when I cancelled my membership they said they would keep my delivery active for the week of the pre order so I could still receive that order. On that day, I received a text that my order was delivered but when I got home nothing was on my porch. When I looked at my ring doorbell camera, about 5 mins after the order was delivered (and picture taken of two boxes sitting on my porch) the delivery person showed up again and removed the boxes from my porch!

Overall the service was expensive, which I wouldn’t mind paying if it was reliable and quality food, but it is the opposite. If I’m going to put this much effort into getting local quality food I’d rather go right to the source and not have to deal with the premium cost and...

Produce quality has been inconsistent. Kale I received in a previous order was already yellowing at the time of delivery. A cucumber lasted all of 2 days in the refrigerator before becoming mushy and inedible. In general I've found that produce is just not as long-lasting as it is when I shop either in person or online at Whole Foods.

Not all produce is organic. I was expecting that the majority of available produce items would be organic but was surprised that many items are produced conventionally. Although I appreciate local produce I would prioritize organic options over local ones.

Frozen meat is not well packaged. Although the filet cuts I've ordered are shrink-wrapped well, the ground meat is packaged in a way that allows significant leakage when under refrigeration for thawing. As a result there is blood/meat juice in my produce drawers and my entire refrigerator required everything to be removed and sanitized. This was not just a one-time occurrence.

Pre-loaded shopping cart is not desired. I shouldn't have to put in extra effort just to avoid undesired deliveries. If I want to order groceries I can do so without automated assistance. Most recently I was charged more than $100 for a delivery that I did not desire with products I would never have chosen because depending on how you attempt to skip the order on their website there may be another step required to confirm. This time the request for the order to be skipped resulted in a message stating ""We're sorry you can't receive your share on 5/15/24". To me this implied that the process was complete but according to customer service I didn't click another confirmatory button and am now out $102.36.

No option for fresh meat products. I often purchase things like ground meat for relatively quick use when shopping weekly and don't enjoy the additional step of having to make a meal plan a day or two ahead so that meat can thaw. It would be nice to have the option to choose between fresh or frozen meat products.

Pricing is often extravagant. I am happy to pay extra for higher quality items or ones that are produced in a sustainable and/or organic fashion, but there are a number of egregious price points for things like ground turkey for close to $17/pound or butter for $28/pound.

Prepared foods that I have purchased have been underwhelming at best and unpleasant at worst. Breakfast sandwiches were terrible as was prepared...

Harvie says they source locally from small farm businesses. Located in Pittsburgh, they delivered grapefruits (product not ordered) in January. Obviously not from a local small farm business. You are supposed to select your own products.I selected my first order, skipped the second week, and forgot to place my order for the third week. That week, I received a shipment. Instead of a duplicate of the 1 and only shipment I have ever ordered, I received numerous products I would never purchase. I’m lactose intolerant, they shipped a half gallon of chocolate milk, a half gallon of white milk, and a pint of heavy cream. Their bake goods are dry - maybe because they are old or just overcooked. Despite it being very difficult to communicate with this food service company, I did find 2 email addresses to let them know I was not happy with their service and I wanted to cancel it and not pay for a year’s subscription. I received a notice that they received my message and would reply in 72 hours - a very long time for a customer service response. Now,, 7 days later, I have not heard back from them, and I received another shipment!

Do not do business with this company. They are no different than a grocery store in how they source their products, and their products are of inconsistent quality. They are impossible to contact making their customer service totally ineffective. I am going to report...